Night Markets in Taipei

helloooo! (: I'm back with another Taiwan post! ^^ today's one is gonna be about all the night markets 夜市 i went to in taipei. we were so excited about our first night market upon arriving in Taichung! there seemed to be so much to eat, literally impossible to finish!! after visiting a few night markets, we realised that the food was more or less the same though, but various markets have their own specialties, and since you can't eat everything, hope this post sheds some light on what you should eat at each market! (: you have to excuse me though...this seems such a long time ago now and i can barely remember the exact names of all the food we ate :P haha.

Feng Jia Night Market

one of our favourite night markets in taiwan was Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市 in Taichung which i wrote about in an older post, so you can check that out too! (: 

Miaokou Night Market

the first night market we visited in Taiwan was the Miaokou Night Market 庙口夜市 in Keelung. it's one of the biggest night markets in Taipei if i'm not wrong, and is famous for its seafood as its next to the sea. you can visit this market on a day trip together with Jiufen/Shifen like we did, since they're all in the outskirts of Taipei around the same area (: 

have to say that this was one of my least favourite 

Tian bu la 甜不辣 

the taiwanese version of tempura - this was highly recommended by many food blogs, but was unfortunately really disappointing for us! i guess it was to do with our expectations (cos we were really hoping to get something like the japanese tempura). it's actually more like a sweet fishcake with a sweet/spicy sauce. you'll have to try it to know!

Cheesy scallops

Since Miaokuo is so famous for seafood, you can find stalls selling it EVERYWHERE! And of course we had to try it. though decent, it didn't live up to our excitement though. 

Nutritional Sandwich

haha this was quite a misnomer :P it's a really interesting sandwich that was chock full of ingredients that were totally NOT nutritious/healthy at all :P but the rest thought it was not bad la haha. 

Pepper beef steak

The best item we ordered that day, or rather Ngan & Jiayee ordered bcos they can't eat seafood, was ironically a non-seafood item! this beef steak sandwich had a really generous amount of beef in it, fried with spring onions and chilli and it was super duper tasty!! look out for this ^^ i definitely recommend it! 

okay so i didn't really have a great time at Miaokou, but i enjoyed the other night markets much more!! :)

Shilin Night Market (Nearest MRT: Jiantan)

When you mention night markets in taiwan, the first one that comes to mind is Shilin Night Market 士林夜市 of course! as the largest and most famous night market in taiwan, this place is synonymous with the bustling night life of the country. i came back here TWICE simply because there was so much so see & eat! the first time we were there, we spent two whole hours shopping from the moment we stepped into the market, and simply couldn't find the food area!! that's how huge it is :O just cross a few parallel streets and you should be able to find the food area though! 

there is even an underground food hall which is basically a night market moved to the basement. WOW.

lots of good food here!!! have to say that this is one of my favourites as well (: though ti'd be best to come on a weekday because i heard that weekends are SUPER crowded and you'll barely be able to get anywhere because you're just swept up in the crowd.

this cold noodles 泰式冷面 looks deceptively simple, but that is exactly where the beauty lies because you have no idea what to expect. just three ingredients plus a sauce, that is super flavourful and spicy!! there are different levels of spiciness too, for those who wish to challenge themselves :p MUST TRY.

i can't really remember what this was :P but i think it was an eggy thing with four different toppings - corn, seaweed, tuna and sth else! and topped with fish flakes. it was quite nice! :) and we found a really nice taiwan sausage stall near this one too! almost comparable to the one in Taichung ^^

there was a really long queue for this! can't really decide whether i like it or not though! haha. it's actually sprain onions wrapped in bacon. it was nice the first time i tried it, but the second time it was really spicy!! guess it depends on how well they fry it.

Fried squid can be found in most of the night markets, and it's another must-try! there are so many flavours to choose from ;) i got the wasabi sauce, which had a really satisfying kick!

in the basement food hall, this coffin bread 棺材板 is really popular! it's basically a deep fried piece of thick toast, with lots of ingredients inside. we found that while it looked pretty yummy, it was severely lacking in taste though! :/

on the way out of the night market, we came across the stall selling Fried Milk!! it sounds like the strangest thing ever, but it is SOOOO YUMMY!!!! even SK, who doesn't like milk at all, felt that it was not bad. it doesn't really taste like milk! rather, it's lightly crispy on the outside, while nicely gooey and creamy within. it was so good! ^^

okay I think I'm becoming too long-winded! Shall not go into too much detail from now :P 

Raohe Night Market (Nearest MRT: Houshanpi)

Raohe Night Market 饒河夜市 is one of the oldest in Taipei and also one of our favourites! We didn't have much time to explore the place, but we loved almost everything we ate here. 

This Japanese Egg Omelette was really good!! Lots of ingredients and very tasty. 

I have no idea what this is called!!! D: But it's a pancake with this eggy/custard interior which is SOOO GOOD. must try!

Spare ribs stewed in herbal soup 肉骨汤 - similar to the herbal bak kut teh we have in Singapore!

One more item that is really famous at Raohe is the black pepper bun 胡椒餅 which you can find right at the entrance of the market. But the queue for that is perpetually long! We didn't have a chance to try it.

Huaxi Night Market (nearest MRT: Longshan Temple)

Huaxi Night Market (a.k.a. Snake Alley) 華西街夜市 is supposed to be one of the largest night markets in Taipei! Unfortunately we were quite full on the night we went there so didn't get to try a lot of things! :( What you really HAVE to try is the wild boar taiwan sausage!!!!! This was literally the BEST BEST BEST we found, on par with the one in Taichung ^^ Haha I know I keep comparing with the Taichung Taiwan Sausage, because that was really the epitome of chinese sausages that we had. Can't stop raving about it :P

Shida Night Market (Nearest MRT: Taipower Building)

The Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 was by far one of the most disappointing night markets we went to :( Formerly one of the most popular night markets in Taipei, it has since been scaled down significantly and there were hardly any food stalls left!! :( They're supposedly really famous for their sizzling giant steaks, but I really wouldn't recommend the one we tried (it was actually a proper shop in the midst of the night market!) because it didn't even taste much like a steak? Same for the pork chop. Totally dubious!

I enjoyed these Pan-fried dumplings though! :) 

gotta say that i did get kinda scared of all the night markets at the end of my two weeks there haha. the food is sooooooo sinful and unhealthy! and guess what! i never did try stinky tofu in the end, even though i was quite game to try it. anyway, if you're in taiwan, just go all out and EAT!! :D check out more must-eats in my other foodie post (: